Anita Rowland, one of the founding mothers of the contemporary blogging culture, died today at Swedish Hospital after several years of battling ovarian cancer. She was 51.
Anita’s Book of Days, the blog she kept from 1997 through 2006, says everything about Anita. Her mischievous, subtle, and even-tempered personality shines through in every entry.
Anita and I lived somewhat parallel lives (grew up in Northern Virginia, moved to Seattle, became writers in the tech industry, loved genre fiction, enjoyed swing dancing, and married relatively late in life — to geeky guys who read genre fiction). Our paths eventually crossed through the Seattle Webloggers Meetup that Anita led and I attended. She gently urged me to do more of the genre fiction writing I love, and saw to it that I was introduced to other supportive people in the field (through events like Potlatch).
Anita was a joy. I miss her.
Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. I stopped by to tag you in a blogging meme, and seeing this post it might be a good way to celebrate Anita’s blogging by carrying on with something she loved. http://www.coffeewriter.net/blogs/help-ive-been-tagged-five-random-facts/